Anne McNeil Publishing Director, Hodder Children’s Books responds to the Bookseller article about the lack of room for new talent on UK publishers’ picture book lists.
From the point of view of Hodder Children’s Books, I have to say that I cannot agree with Frann Preston-Gannon. We are proud to have just launched, or be about to launch the following brand-new illustrators: Cally Johnson-Isaacs, Maria Nilsson, Jane Porter, Jamie Littler, John Rowley, Hayley Welsh and Cassia Thomas. Alongside these ‘picture book virgins’ we are thrilled to have very recently broken through some stylish, young creatives such as Alex T Smith, winner of the Dundee Book prize for Bella and Monty, Lee Wildish, whose Mum and Dad Glue written by Kes Gray is a work of genius, Tor Freeman, whose Babies Don’t Bite we were selling like mad at Bologna and Stephen Mackey – the multi-coeditioning creator of Miki. Each of these represents a creative risk for the team of Design and Editorial here; and a leap of faith from our colleagues in Rights and home sales! The brilliant team of Claire Cartey (Deputy Art Director) and Emma Layfield (Senior Commissioning Editor) - alongside our talented Art Director, Alison Still, deserve to be singled out as having dedicated themselves to the creation of a new innovate list, which is fresh, contemporary, stylish and child-focused. The market is tough, and we understand the challenges facing retailers, but we don’t baulk from our commitment to publishing the strongest titles and supporting fresh new faces.
Original Article: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/childrens-illustrators-concerned-over-uk-market.html